The secret star of the Edition Beurmann is a hidden gem that may seem unimpressive at first glance: Built around 1910, it has been patina'ed over time and looks like a little version of a piano. This unique tuning-fork piano sports a vibrant, mellow and charming sound remeniscent of a vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba and a piano - yet a sound of its own.

At that time, it was inspiring to those looking for a new sound - Pjotr Tschaikowsky wrote some parts of his Nutcracker for a celesta like the dulcitone. Being a rather quiet instrument, it seemed unappropriate for orchestral use, so its parts were often played by a glockenspiel instead - luckily, this is not a problem in a sampler.

Back then, no one had ever dreamt that a celesta would be as relevant today as ever - being the acoustic ancestor of the most popular vintage electric pianos, which share the same basic sound principles.

Providing a warm and full bass, it carries more weight than a toy piano and is great for any track demanding an unconsumed yet familiar sound.

Photo: Andreas E. Beurmann

An original Dulcitone celesta is very hard to play, offering a very rough-running and tight dynamic response. Capturing the dynamic shades of the instrument, we recorded every note with 8 samples.

The Dyson & Sons owes a huge part of its character and life to the unique release sounds of its keys - hence we recorded these sounds as well, providing 4 varitions of each key release sound to complete the Dulcitone experience. Breathe life into your sampler!

For the recording of this marvellous little fellow, we employed vintage Neumann™ TLM170® microphones with Crane Song™ preamps and Universal Audio™ 2192® converters. The library contains two versions of the instrument recorded with different stereo settings. The samples were recorded at 192 kHz/24 bits, downsampled to the resolution of your choice.